Lithuanian (lietuviu
kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania, where about 3.5 million
inhabitants are native Lithuanian speakers. Recognised as one of the official
languages of the European Union, Lithuanian is considered the oldest surviving
Indo-European language and is thought to have retained some features of
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) such as pitch-accent and a complex inflexional case system. It
is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they are not mutually
intelligible.

Lithuanian is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in
today's Belarus, Latvia, Poland, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well by emigrant
communities in other countries of Western Europe, and in Canada, USA and Latin America.